One of the stand-by’s of lo-bud indie filmmaking is the “get a group of people together in one location for most of the film” device. It worked for John Sayles in “The Return Of The Secaucus Seven”, it worked for Spike Lee in “She’s Gotta Have It” and it worked for Quentin Tarantino in “Reservoir Dogs” --- of the 100 page screenplay, 11 pages are set in the diner, and 40-something pages are set in the warehouse. The winning formula has been applied by countless filmmakers over the years, most often in the slasher genre where a group of people find themselves thrown together in a situation with lethal consequences for most of them.

Such is the case with Erik Soulliard’s “The Creek”, a been-there-done-that affair if ever there was one ---- and in a good way! At this point in slasher movie history, the conventions are so well established: the stereotypical characters and settings, the actual murders etc that the concept of actually scaring the audience seems to be secondary, it is now more about coming up with an interesting or, at least, not tired, premise in which everything plays out.

On the fifth anniversary of the death of their friend Billy, six friends are forced back together by his ghost. Billy's death was officially considered an accident but old suspicions and conflicts return. When people start dying they all must ask themselves if it's his ghost, one of them, or because they returned to The Creek?

So, as far as low-budget indie horror 101 goes, “The Creek” gets a solid passing grade, nothing fancy, nothing that hasn’t been seen dozens of times before, borderline acting but characters who are amusing enough to make the audience forget about it, competent production values and an overall spirit of “let’s put on a show” fun that should at least pacify fans of the genre.